- guardian.co.uk, Sunday June 23 2002 04.40 BST
the BBC us with Oasis belting out Stop Crying Your Heart Out , ITV with something haunting by Enya. Then at 11am, an evocative time for the English when once a year we remember the truly fallen, Sky News offered the headline 'End of the World'.
A few minutes later, over pictures and words from fans around the country - or rather one word: 'gutted' - a newsflash caption underneath was announcing, 'Two dead, dozens hurt in Jenin shooting.' Back with the football Bob Friend was lamenting a 'terrible day'. This was the same Bob Friend, incidentally, who made a cameo appearance as himself in the film Independence Day .
So how about a sense of perspective somewhere? England lost a football match to a better team. Life goes on, as John Cougar Mellencamp once sang, though to be fair, Gary, he did add, 'Long after the thrill of living is gone.' BBC were gone too soon once more, while ITV properly lingered longer. To them went the only English victory of the day, in quality at least, even if the majority of viewers, as usual, remain with Auntie at times of national unity, with 71 per cent of the 16m viewers opting to watch it with the BBC.
On the basis of 'if you can't beat them, join them,' I tuned in at the start this time to the Beeb, out of duty more than pleasure, allied to token-protest outrage at ITV Digital's treatment of the Nationwide League. I couldn't resist peeking, though. It was that sort of nervous, channel-hopping day.
Watching too much TV does make you worry about trivia though, especially in those early hours when the world can weigh heavily. 'We had to be here for this one,' said Gary Lineker at 6.31am, pointing out that he, Hansen, Reid and Wright (and you wonder sometimes if the two of them can) were actually in Japan, unlike the ITV panel. Sadly, O'Neill wasn't, I thought as my mind wandered to the sofas.
You know, those blue ones they seem to have bought cheap from last year's Big Brother house. How - and why - did they get them out there? Then I wondered what Wrighty, sporting his lucky line-dancing shirt, meant by describing the game as 'mahoosive'.
I wearied of being shown the 1970 game again, which had been reprised in full the night before (how time has lent enchantment; so Pele did give the ball away, and Bobby Moore did miss a tackle), wearied of Garth Crooks 'asking' David Beckham: 'I'm so impressed with the maturity of the side because everyone seems to keep things in perspective,' and hopped over.
(BBC could have done with the Republic of Ireland coming home sooner, by the way. Mick McCarthy was exceptional on South Korea v Spain yesterday as he summed up the Spanish coach Camacho's underarm problem with, 'his pits are chucking.')
Now I know that ITV, too, can mangle the language but at least there is a charm when Sir Bobby Robson - or Bob, as Gazza now calls him - says, as he would do later, that 'we're eating into their hands.' And there is some sense. Everyone was saying what a dodgy defence Brazil had but Terry Venables actually demonstrated it with some clips and commentary.
Sadly, though Brazil did their best by playing in Chelsea kit, England could not take the hint that they would fold if put under pressure. Tel would have shown them.
John Motson's commentary again revealed his obsession with good old English meals. 'Brazil on the boil - and no reference to eggs now. This is serious,' he said. 'England having breakfast in the last chance saloon,' he added. I do think Clive Tyldesley has shaded it this time. 'Coaching Brazil can damage your health,' he said among his several pearls. 'We hope, they expect.'
Mind you, I thought Big Ron was medium wrong about Little Ron's goal being a fluke. I was with Gazza. 'He shaped up for it,' said one of the few players in the world who, in his heyday, could have emulated such audacity.
If you want the real, simple reason why the BBC attracts more viewers, it was to be found at endgame. ITV had to go to an ad break. The BBC could dwell on David Seaman's despair.
They were going to play Elton John's new version of Your Song for Sport Relief if England had won. ITV had chosen Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World . Sometimes, angry, cursing Oasis do seem to fit our national identity better, though.
